KarateParty.org - Phoenix Foundation, The

The Phoenix Foundation
Pegasus (2005)
FMR
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The Phoenix Foundation could be considered an obscure band. Realisitcally, the only people outside of music circles in New Zealand that have heard of them are Wellingtonians devout to the local music scene and anyone who has seen Macgyver. We here at the Karate Party music department seek to address this issue and educate our readers, so that you too can be as snobby audiophiles as we are.

To begin your education, we need some background you can bore your friends with: The Phoenix Foundation formed in 1997 and released the China Cove EP in 2000, and their debut full length album Horsepower in 2003. Their latest offering, Pegasus, was released with much anticipation amongst the music niche.

Now, we need some interesting facts or possible rumours: a prominent Wellington businessman has been the financial backer for these boys from way back, and from what I’ve heard, he still helps out.

Next, recite what their latest album has to offer, best way to do this is look at what other people say, as work is the last thing we want to do. The Phoenix Foundation’s work on Pegasus has been described “[r]efreshingly unpretentious in their musical explorations”. Small bites such as this are good, as a fanboy audiophile is always on the prowl to increase his phrasebook.

The next step is to discuss your own take on the album. Remember, you have to act nonchalant otherwise people will catch onto your drooling obsession with music. Describe how the album first struck you, and the original feelings towards the whole package. Were you in awe of the shiny blue cover art, or was it the familiar shade of fanboy pink that caught your eye? A must is to link it back to the original discussion on the album. One thought could be that I didn’t actually care about the release of Pegasus, honestly. I still wasn’t interested in the album all that much even when I heard the first single, Hitchcock, and it was only on one exceptionally bored day when passing the music store that I bought it. To be honest, it wasn’t any particular sound that caught my attention it was the shiny album cover. Blasé remember.

Now that you’ve laid the ground work, it’s time to actually start picking the album apart with the opening track and some gross generalisations. Still encapsulated by the shiny blue cover, I delved into the album. For the first time listener though, what strikes you is the forgetful quality most tracks seem to have. The opening track Morning Pages, like the others, strikes as a little maudlin, except for the one line where Sam Flynn Scott decides to hit the high note with “it’s just you and me love”, and it catches you for a brief second.

Develop this discussion into your overall impression of the album, weaving specific examples in. I have no doubts that this is a fine piece of work and musicianship, it just takes a little while to get used, and to pull the threads of each song away from each other so that they gain the uniqueness they deserve. It is only after many hours of play that the layers behind the music, in songs such as Nest Egg with the use of the usual guitar, bass and drums along with the piano, fiddle and banjo culminating in a racous refrain, become apparent. Each song is oozing with its own details and layers of sound, the highlight being Cars Of Eden, being an almagmation of a variety of influences and sound that stops smoothly with a melodic interlude, then back into the busy themes it gave up.

Finally, your closing moment should encapsulate anything you’ve said already, so that people can still skip to the end and know what you thought of the album. Pegasus is an album that should not be as easily dismissed as your first encounter with it might suggest. Although not to everyone’s taste, after repeated listening, it is, for me, one of the stand-out albums for this year. On top of that, they’re a Wellington band, so support your local bums and buy a copy.

Hopefully now you too are on the road to becoming an audiophile fanboy.